C.S. Lewis and the place of fiction.

When i was a child, i loved the works of C.S. Lewis. To this day i appreciate them greatly. Although for the first time since my loss of religion, i am given a new view of these books.

The stories are brilliant, the imagery is beautiful, but sadly the delightful imagination of C.S. Lewis is polluted by a lack of logic. As a child i knew the books as fiction, i read them as fiction, and nothing more. To this day i find humor that the books that include high respect for the standards of theism seem to hold the same respect for concepts such as Santa Claus. Above all it is evidence of one thing. C.S. Lewis seemed to have a fetish for delusion. Reading even lightly into his personal life, this becomes very noticeable. (Correct me if i'm wrong)

The topic and question for this thread is not completely about Lewis or his works, but how does one view religion in contrast to fictional writing, or imagination kept apart from reality.

I am as atheist as they come. A complete Anti-Theist in all respects. Although many would find this contradictory to my deep obsession with imagination and fiction. I dedicate my life towards fiction in illustration and writing. I could not live without such imaginative settings, regardless of how much i enjoy science or the world's wonders. At the same time, i am completely against anybody relating the actions they make in life with any fictional belief. It is for entertainment, to be appreciated as one should appreciate their dreams. not always possible, not always right, but surely great as imagination.
The greatest and most brilliant display in contrast of fiction and religion that i can think of would be the works of Philip Pullman. This contrast is what i would like to promote in my work, and what i would like to see in more work as time goes on.

so what are your takes on imagination in this world? could you condemn it as religion should be, for it's relation in absence of truth? Or do you celebrate it and respect it apart from reality; to dream as you couldn't otherwise? What role does fiction play in your life? How great can it be without succumbing to delusion?

To me it is greater than all of the parts of religion that anyone could take a liking to, although while left as fiction, lacks any of the harm held by religion.

Replies to This Discussion

Imagination and creativity are core parts of being human. The danger lies not within our imaginations and the fictional realities and stories that we can create, but rather when someone becomes unable to tell the difference between reality and fiction. I would be just as worried about someone who is convinced that Heinlein's Space Cadet was a prophetic discourse of things to come, and thus we needed to form the Space Patrol and have atomic weaponry constantly orbiting the planet to deal with rebelling cities as I would be about someone who insists that death in battle is the only way to Valhalla, and so all people should strive to fight and conquer.

Religious myths are just that, myths, and I can enjoy (or not enjoy, as the case may be) them as fiction without sliding into the delusion that they are an accurate reflection of reality. Likewise, I can read a fantasy novel which has gods and magic and unicorns, and accept those beings and events as real in that created world, without confusing it with ours. To use C.S. Lewis as an example, in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, I'm perfectly willing to suspend disbelief and accept magic, talking animals, and instant transportation from England to Narnia via wardrobes made from the wood of magic trees as 'real' in that reality.

The world would be a far poorer place without our flights of fancy. We just need to be wary of those who mistake fantasy for reality, and attempt to impose that fiction on this world rather than the one within the pages.